Fortnight of Action on Racism in Ireland

Ireland was ahead of the game last night in announcing its programme for the UEFA/ FARE fortnight of action 17th-30th October 2006.An exhibition game saw Drogheda u13s score one over on the u13s from Bohemians. The game served to highlight the work of clubs in the Eircom League in promoting community involvement of ethnic minorities.This is the first year of Ireland’s involvement in the UEFA/FARE fortnight of action against racism. To signal the way forward the association’s Chief Executive Officer John Delaney has written to all clubs and leagues about the week. The text of the letter is below.RE: Week of Action Against RacismDear ColleagueI would like to inform you of an important date for your football diary.UEFA’s partner in the campaign against racism, Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) is staging a Fotnight of Action on October 17-30th, 2006.As the newly formed Football Intercultural Advisory Group (FIAG) is promoting the activity in Ireland and the recently appointed Intercultural Programm Coordinator will be overseeing this for the FAI, we ask all in our football family to play its role in challenging racism by engaging with new minority ethnic/cultural communities and assisting people to get involved with the game.I encourage associations, clubs and supporters alike to make strong effort to contribute actively to the programme of the fortnight by designing and implementing projects more people from minority ethnic communities to get involved in the game. Many clubs, for example will be inviting guests from different ethnic groups to atend their games. Below are one or two suggestions that you might like to think about.- A friendly match with members of new communities- Have an open day and invite members of new communities alongFinally, I would be obliged if you could inform the FAI Intercultural Programme Coordinator, Des Tomlinson of your activity at des.tomlinson@fai.ie / 01 7037571. If you are engaged in similar work as part of your regular programme, we would also like to hear details.Thank you for you assistance in contributing to the ongoing development of an intercultural society free of racism and discrimination through the medium of our game.Yours sincerely,John DelaneyFIAG Members-Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform www.justice.ie-Football Association of Ireland www.fai.ie-National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalsim www.nccri.ie-Sport against Racism in Ireland www.sari.ie-Show Racism the Red Card www.theredcard.ie